This past Sunday, we studied the way in which Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper while eating the Passover Meal. There are many similarities between the Passover Meal and the Lord's Supper.
First of all, the disciples were eating the Passover Lamb with Jesus who was also the Lamb of God. In 1 Corinthians 5:7, the Apostle Paul refers to Jesus as "our paschal lamb, Christ, (who) has been sacrificed." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of The Christian Church simply defines the "paschal lamb" as "the lamb sacrificed and eaten at the Jewish Passover. By analogy Christ is regarded as a 'Paschal Lamb.'"
Secondly, in the same way that the blood of the Passover Lamb was placed upon the doorposts of the Israelites' homes to deliver them from slavery and death in Egypt, so the blood of Jesus shed upon the cross and consumed in the wine/juice of Holy Communion became our deliverance from sin and death.
Thirdly, the Passover Meal was eaten during the Jewish Festival of Unleavened Bread. The bread was a symbol of God's sustaining grace. Jesus took the Unleavened Bread, broke it, and gave it to His disciples as a sign of the grace God was offering the world through Him.
Certainly, there are other similarities between the Passover Meal and the Lord's Supper. Therefore, to consider more about the Passover Meal, read Exodus 12:1-13 (provided below). As you read, answer these questions: How is the Passover Meal similar/different from the Lord's Supper? How is Jesus like/unlike the Passover Lamb? Pray today and thank God for sending Jesus to be our Paschal Lamb.
Exodus 12:1-13
12:1
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,
12:2
"This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.
12:3
Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
12:4
If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.
12:5
The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
12:6
Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.
12:7
Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
12:8
That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.
12:9
Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire--head, legs and inner parts.
12:10
Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.
12:11
This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover.
12:12
"On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn--both men and animals--and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.
12:13
The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
